Writer's Block
by texashoser
Summary: McGee comes back to work after having a bad case of writer's block.


Just a little fic I cooked up driving home from school. Enjoy...

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Tony Dinozzo focused on his computer screen where he had started a game of Tetris as he waited for his boss and fellow agents to come. He normally didn't get to work early unless he knew Gibbs would be there wanting information on the latest case. He was mostly there to show up McGee who was always there earlier than him. Tony wasn't about to get shown up by the younger agent again. He looked over his screen when he heard someone yelp in pain. Tony spotted the head of McGee who was splayed out on the carpeted floor.

"Whatcha' doing on the floor, McGee?" The younger man looked up at Dinozzo and he noticed the younger agent seemed to have been through a fight with his bruised right eye and the various cuts on Tim's face.

"I fell, Tony. My crutch got caught in the carpet and I fell." Tony got out of his seat and went over to help the younger man up. McGee gave him a slightly suspicious look.

"I'm not going to do anything, McGee. You probably don't need it after what you've been through," Tony said. He got Tim up on his good left foot then picked up the crutches and handed them over. "What the hell happened? You get into a fight or something? Were you protecting Abby's honor?"

"No," McGee answered as he fell into his desk chair. "Thanks for the help, Tony."

"No problem, probie." The agent pulled up his chair and sat down. "So, what happened?" The MIT graduate gave him a look.

"I don't want to talk about it, Tony."

"Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone until you tell me how you got a black eye and sprained your ankle. I always tell you what I do on the weekends."

"You do that even when nobody wants to know. We keep asking you to keep your stories about your flings to yourself, but you feel that everyone must know." McGee gestured to himself. "This is something nobody needs to know about."

"Oh, I get it. You and Abby got it on this weekend, didn't you?" Tony asked with a wicked grin. "She probably went a little crazy on you and the next thing you know you look like you've fought a biker gang." Dinozzo gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. "Good going, probie." Tim glared at him.

"I did not see Abby this weekend, Tony. And whatever she and I do on our off time is none of your business."

"Then tell me what happened, probie? You obviously had a more interesting weekend than I did."

"McGee had a more interesting weekend then Dinozzo?" Tony looked around to see Kate entering the bullpen. "Now that's a first." She set down her backpack and walked over to Tim's desk. The brunette gave the young agent a look of concern. "McGee, what happened? You look horrible."

"I don't want to talk about it," McGee repeated once more with some agitation in his voice. "Just leave me alone."

"Did you get into a fight?" Kate inquired.

"Look, it doesn't matter what happened," McGee said. "It was just something stupid I'd rather not talk about."

"Let's call Abby," Tony suggested. "That ought to get him talking." The younger agent groaned and let his head fall back as Dinozzo picked up the phone sitting on McGee's desk. "Hey, Abbs, come up here for a minute. I've got something for you to see." He sighed. "No, it's not my new high score. You'll actually find this interesting. Just get up here." He hung up the phone.

"Tony, why'd you do that?"

"Because I know you can't lie to Abby," Tony answered.

"That's true," Kate agreed. "Actually you have a hard time lying to anyone. You're really going to have to work on that."

"Yes, thank you," McGee responded. "Now go away. I have some work to do."

"Not gonna happen, probie. Abby's coming up here and we're going to get to the bottom of this. You should be enjoying all this attention. Normally we'd just mumble good morning to you and wait for Gibbs to come in and start ordering us around."

"And he's not here yet," Kate pointed out. Abby joined the group with annoyed look on her face and she focused on Tony.

"Okay, I'm here," the goth mumbled. "What am I…?" She turned to McGee and gasped. "Oh, my gosh. McGee, what happened? Did you get into a fight?"

"No. I didn't get into a fight," McGee answered. "Don't worry about it, Abbs. I'm fine." He waved at his face. "These will clear up in a few days and my ankle should be fine by next week."

"Timothy McGee, you are going to tell me what happened," Abby told the man firmly. "Or I'm going to start taking certain privileges away from you."

"Ohhh…" Abby gave Tony a look. "Sorry." McGee studied the lab tech.

"You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" The two got into a staring contest causing Tony and Kate to look at each in confusion.

"They have the weirdest relationship I have ever seen," Dinozzo commented.

"Even compared to the hundreds you've probably had?" Kate shot at him.

"Can you explain how their relationship works?" Tony asked. The woman looked back at the two who were still staring at each other.

"No," Kate admitted. "I really can't."

"I win!" Abby shouted. "You blinked, McGee. Now spill."

"I can't," McGee stuttered rubbing his eyes and wincing at the pain that he was causing his right eye. "I shouldn't have even been doing that."

"I won, McGee," Abby repeated. "And remember our deal? Whoever loses the staring contest has to do one thing the other person tells them."

"You know I don't think I actually agreed to that," McGee responded. Abby gave him a look.

"Please, McGee," she said in her cutesy voice. She protruded her bottom lip and gave him her sad puppy dog look.

"Alright, fine," Tim replied. "But I want you all to promise that this never leaves you three."

"Promise."

"Promise." They all looked at Dinozzo.

"What?" They continued to stare at him. "Fine. I promise. My lips will remain sealed. I hope this is worth it, McGee, or I will get you back."

"I went home this weekend hoping I could work on some personal projects that I haven't been able to work on for a while because of all the big cases we've been involved in for the past couple of weeks."

"Translation," Tony interjected. "Probie was gonna play video games and work on his stories all weekend."

"Shut up." Abby reached around Kate and hit her friend in the shoulder. "We all know what he does. You're ruining the story."

"Only this weekend I forgot they were doing some renovations in my apartment complex on my floor at all hours during the weekend so I wouldn't be able to sleep much less get anything done so I remembered a cabin a friend of mine has in Virginia and I called to ask him if I could borrow it. That's how I got this." He pointed at his eye. "I picked up my phone and there was a loud noise outside causing me to hit myself in the eye with it."

"Ow," Kate murmured.

"That was the only problem I had before I reached the cabin," McGee continued. "Do you all know that episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" where Rob goes to the cabin in hopes of working on his book?"

"Oh, yeah. Rob ends up just playing with all the toys in the cabin and focusing on everything except his writing. Classic." Tony commented. "Of course, all the episodes were. The jokes were great, the physical humor was spot on and Mary Tyler Moore was a babe. I've got all the seasons on DVD."

"And somehow that doesn't surprise me," Kate stated.

"Okay. So you were messing around," Abby said. "That doesn't explain how you got the rest of your injuries."

"You're simplifying this, Abby," McGee replied. "I had major writer's block. I sat there in front of the typewriter for hours. I was bored out of my mind so I ended up doing a little experimenting." The young woman gave him an interested look.

"Experimenting, huh?" She repeated leaning over the desk. "What kind of experimenting?"

"Abby…"

"Hmm?"

"Not in front of them. And it wasn't what you think." He shook his head. "Maybe experiment was the wrong kind of word."

"Well, if you change it then your story is back to being just boring again," Tony told him. "It's already bad enough you admitted to having writer's block all alone in a cabin when you could have been using this weekend more productively."

"You know what? I'm done," McGee said. "I didn't need to tell any of you what happened to me in the first place. Thank you for your concern, but all I need is a chance to heal in quiet."

"McGee, you might as well tell us," Kate replied.

"Tell what?" Everyone jumped to attention except for McGee as Gibbs entered the bullpen with his usual cup of coffee in his hand. "McGee, what the hell happened to you?"

"I had an accident," McGee answered.

"Care to elaborate?" Gibbs asked.

"Not really, boss."

"Then I believe show and tell is over. Abby, please go back down to your lab. Dinozzo, stop playing those stupid games on your computer. Kate, that assignment I gave you last week. And, McGee, do whatever you usually do." The agents and the lab tech didn't argue as they went off to do their specified areas of the building. Tony glanced over at McGee and could see he was typing furiously for some reason. A moment later he saw the familiar message on his screen stating he had a new e-mail. He headed over to his inbox to find an e-mail from McGee.

"I sure hope this is the rest of the story," Tony muttered. He read the e-mail quickly and fought the urge to laugh. The agent looked across the way to Kate who had a similar expression of amusement on her face. They looked over at McGee who had a sheepish expression on his.

"McGee, what the hell is this about having a new cure writer's block?" Gibbs asked.


End file.
